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Absinthe
Flight Lt. Varia Sykkael, self-styled as Absinthe, is an information broker and data courier operating during the Fall of the Ealdremen Galaxy. Though officially once an officer of the Gerualdi Union, she was dishonorably discharged for treasonously selling state secrets to the opposing Alamo and Veriol factions, and no longer claims citizenship in any of the three interplanetary territories. She is outwardly prickly, snarky, and impatient, but is ultimately a pragmatist -- her biting sarcasm often cuts to the truth of things, and she wields it like a blunt weapon, forgoing social niceties in favor of addressing matters directly. Her combat style reflects this; notably, she eschews the other civilized races' penchant for Chrono magic and melee weaponry, primarily using a handgun in combat. Her lost ship - the IDC Mendicant - was recently recaptured from the hands of the Red Quasars by Osvald Coalgrave, who is carrying out "modifications" to the craft under orders from Hretlakk Flametail. Absinthe is not happy about this. Galactic Reputation "Gerualdi Union deserter, ex-Flight Lieutenant and now wanted criminal Varia Sykkael. Dishonorably discharged, if word is to be believed, for betraying all sides that she sold information to. Her prowess in disguising herself, I would imagine, allowed her to access information that people like you or I might struggle to obtain purely due to having to rely on more mundane forms of disguise. That information would go to the highest bidder regardless of affiliation. "The Union issued a reward for her... not arrest, exactly, but for information on her whereabouts and activities. If that ship is hers, I would imagine that is precisely why the Red Quasars took an interest in it... and why the Union did not care about reclaiming the ship, as it lacked its owner." —Hretlakk Flametail, on Absinthe : O child of a shattered bloodline... You are not yet ready to know what lies ahead. ''' Fourth Dream of Arplakoon Mioura: the Tedious Bullshit ''"This place. You people. It's like pulling fucking '''teeth."'' While drifting through Gerualdi space, Absinthe was forced to make an emergency landing on Ruenfora after a collision with one of Mioura's innumerable natural satellites. As locals and travelers from a passenger ship came to investigate her crash site, she arranged to have the Mendicant dry-docked in a local fort, pending repairs in exchange for a task performed at Governor Danazzi's behest. Setting out with her newfound companions, the grounded pilot scouted ahead while the others met Dokani the Necromancer and her host of Colossi to accept the Queen's mark. Once reunited, Absinthe led the group into the lair of Arplakoon the Timedreamer, whose divinity she openly and verbally doubted (much to the god's amusement). The Timedreamer laughed her comments off, helpfully shedding some light on the nature of the gods at Karsuri ne Humility's request before sending the party on their way. After a brief confrontation with Thorn the Courtyard-Keeper -- whom Absinthe was initially intent on killing to fulfill her agreement with Danazzi -- the necromancer revealed the mistake her companions had made by accepting Dokani's mark, informing them of the conflicted past of Dokani Castle. Growingly increasingly fed up with the complications presented to her journey, but unwilling to abandon her attempts to seek repairs, Absinthe begrudgingly agreed to join the others in rescuing Ainori the Heir from the castle, as well as travel into Mioura's past via the Black Chrono-infused portal within the castle walls to undo the Queen's work in the present. She repeatedly expressed disdain for the quest the entire way. Showing an unexpectedly soft hand, Absinthe took charge of Ainori's wellbeing upon discovering the Heir's fragile state, convincing her to follow the group through the portal directly into Dasedrak Castle and the age of the precursors -- where intrigue immediately sparked over Ainori's presence, upsetting the then-maligned, younger Thorn and Felaji the Servant's plans to hijack the Ritual in the Queen's name. Through much tedious politicking, clandestine meetings with dubiously loyal parties, and more than one exasperated cussing-out of needlessly secretive precursors (see quote, above), Absinthe and her companions ultimately determined a way to prevent their plans coming to fruition: breaking the anchor for the Queen's incorporeal form, an orb residing at the bottom of a nearby lake. A tense battle with the ghostly Dokani ensued, aided by the present-day Thorn, and the orb was shattered -- the day, seemingly, won for the future. Thinking their victory assured, Absinthe encouraged Ainori to perform her intended role in the Ritual's proceedings -- reclaiming for herself what had been stolen from her so many thousands of years ago. She was promptly interrupted by the modern-day version of Dokani, having followed the party through the portal in Felaji's possessed body. Despite the party's efforts, the Ritual was successfully hijacked for the Queen's ends, and the Colossi created anew. Among them was Ainori, now the First Colossus. Absinthe was, lightly put, not happy about this. In a climactic, emotional battle atop the Altar of the New Gods with the host of Colossi, Absinthe desperately protected Ainori as the girl fought for control of her own body, ultimately succeeding in helping the others wrest the second orb away from her grasp to sever Dokani's last connection to the physical world. Emotionally overcome, she hurled the shattered pieces off the side of the Altar with a scream, banishing the Queen for good. With Ainori restored to life, Absinthe invited her to stay aboard the Mendicant as the drained and exhausted party prepared to return to the present day and Fort Darackei to claim a well-deserved rest, noting awkwardly that the ship is made for one person -- but qualifying the condition with a promise to make comfortable room for two. While Ainori accepted, a complication shortly presented itself upon their return: During their absence, someone had stolen the ship. Nicta: the Fucking Impostor "I promised I wouldn't kill you. That doesn't mean I can't have a kneecap or two." Following her ship's last known coordinates, Absinthe and her companions traveled to Fol Atzo, where the shape-shifter quickly set about drumming up underworld contacts. Namely, she negotiated a deal with Strisci and Boss Madrante, who agreed to look into her ship's theft in exchange for information on a rival gang's recent acquisition -- a connection opened to Absinthe by the sympathetic Rakkel Edgevault, who revealed the theft to likely be perpetrated by Red Quasar pirates. Following Edgevault's suggestion to invoke the name of the recently-deceased Zaelli Madrante, Absinthe won the Madrantes' interest, sealing the deal by promising them the contents of the Mendicant's databanks in exchange for its safe return. Assisted by the smooth-talking Cameo and Strisci herself, the group set about infiltrating the Vaccadi hideout, only for Strisci to betray their cover and abscond with the "acquisition" -- the godslayer Eiorozziore -- leaving the others to the mercy of the Vaccadis. Boss Vaccadi, however, chose not to exact judgement. She instead persuaded the party's loyalty away from the Madrantes, revealing the extent of Boss Madrante's crimes -- including her own rape at the noctra patriarch's hands. Torn between morals and self-interest, Absinthe exacted a promise from Vaccadi to match the Madrantes' offer, turning against the more powerful gang at risk to the Mendicant's safe return. With a counter-assignment to photograph the interior of the Madrante Prison in hand, the group set about tracking down the injured Strisci and retrieving Eiorozziore. Absinthe agreed -- begrudgingly -- not to kill Boss Madrante at his daughter's behest, though she repeatedly expressed a desire to. The shape-shifter promptly set out to infiltrate the Madrante hideout just as she had the Vaccadis', slipping inside an open window under the guise of a common bird. Though she managed to open the front door for her allies, an altercation with a Madrante guard quickly compromised her -- tense, clumsy handling of her own poisoned weapons saw both her and the lookout dosed, with the latter alerting the prison to the intruders' presence just moments before passing out. Absinthe was observed by Karsuri to show rare, genuine distress as she likewise slipped into oblivion, believing she'd gotten her allies killed through her mistake. Thorn, mercifully, was on-hand to administer an antidote and restore Absinthe to consciousness some minutes later, though she was pointedly distant and vacant for the remainder of the mission, relegating herself to photographing the party's findings as they delved deeper into the prison. As promised, when the group confronted a cornered Boss Madrante about the atrocities discovered therein -- malnourished prisoners, trafficking, the question of Strisci's true mother, and others besides -- Absinthe did not take the noctra's life, instead vindictively shooting out both of his kneecaps. Tumoria: the Big-ass Rock “He was also pointing a gun at you,” she says hotly, releasing the darkrunner’s wrist. Her eyes are ice-cold. “Illusion or not, when you do that, you’re consigning yourself to someone fucking shooting BACK.” Absinthe largely played a passive role in the party's exploits in Tumoria, providing fire support and stealth expertise in helping Aricrauer Velkt break into the forbidden Vzástrov Se (albeit reluctantly, sharing a mutual enmity and loathing with the darkrunner government agent), intent on stopping a timeline-hopping Varthenral from retrieving the godslayer Ganrikkat. Already possessing a "copy" of Ganrikkat from her home timeline, the possible repercussions of Varthenral bringing the time-altering weapon into contact with another version of itself were potentially cataclysmic; thankfully, she was found and stopped before such a destructive meeting could transpire. It was not, however, done without attracting attention -- specifically that of the Veriol Councillor Zervat Aniklý, who had traveled to the island with his now-former-agent Aricraeuer in a bid to claim the "true" Ganrikkat for himself, only relinquishing it when a display of Marc Pree-Evrad's powers seemed to perturb him. Respecting "the wishes of his god," Zervant left the weapon behind and took his leave, though he vowed to take all of the party's godslayers should he ever cross their paths again. An exhausted, disturbed, and guilty Absinthe, having gunned down a number of mindless precursor clones as well as accidentally shot Delzed while lashing out against an illusion(?) of Dokani the Necromancer, separated herself from the group as this drama played out. She remained conspicuously quiet for the remainder of the journey, only speaking to and bonding with a concerned Felaji when the precursor approached her. Felaji and Delzed also shared the wealth they retrieved from the island with Absinthe, later gifting her an armored shirt and Chrono-infused bandolier. Elsewhere on Vsástrov Se, Absinthe encountered Arplakoon the Timedreamer a second time, and was mocked for her resolute atheism a second time. Alti Maru: I Thought We Were Done With This Shit "I think everyone in a government is an asshole," Felaji says brightly. “Hey, you’re learning,” Absinthe says, cracking a more honest grin. Chasing a tenuous link between Zervat and the Kylian-trafficking scheme uncovered in Fol Atzo, the party shortly thereafter traveled to the Alti Maru city of Dai Lhan, where Absinthe indulged in her typical rituals when arriving in a heavily populated city: locate a very nice underground bar (the Emerald Drink) and go home with a very nice underground bartender (Li Len-Zhi), with whom she exchanged contact information and resolved to track down again once the Mendicant had been restored to her. Though little more than a casual, one-night affair, the encounter temporarily halted Absinthe's downward spiral and instilled feelings of validation, the familiar trappings of her old life bringing her a measure of comfort. This illusion was quickly shattered with the discovery of a child Li had been caring for, the apparent precursor Kaz, a precursor clone (hauntingly similar to the ones Absinthe slaughtered) whose "mother" was imprisoned in the Dai Lhan Weapons Facility. Agreeing to infiltrate the facility on Kaz's behalf, Absinthe and the others shortly made three discoveries: • That the "weapons" within were the ancient colossi whom they had thought destroyed with Mioura, • that Kaz's genetic code was taken from the remains of the Queen-Felaji, • and that his adoptive mother was a traumatized, resurrected, and embittered Fanred the Past-Seer, kept in colossus form for centuries by the facility's operator, none other than Zervat himself. Wielding his powers of time manipulation, Marc was able to restore Fanred to her original humanoid body, and with their new information in hand the party beat a timely escape from the facility -- though not before rousing the lifeless wolf colossus created from the remains of the younger, doomed version of Thorn, animated as a puppet by Zervat. While Karsuri attempted to talk the creature down, Absinthe was able to convince her to flee. While quickly reuniting Fanred with Kaz at the Emerald Drink, the party puzzled over their new status as fugitives from the Alliance. Flexing her criminal network, Absinthe secured passage for the party, the precursors, and the newly-freed Fanred and Kaz to what she assured them would be a safe haven: the pirate-infested Fallen Arm station, in orbit far overhead. Fallen Arm Station: This is a Good Idea everything is fine Image Gallery (Absinthe Shrine) Absintheriley.png|Absinthe by riley Absinthesprite.png|Absinthe sprite by NP Absinthe_markings.png|Markings reference sheet by NP Category:Characters Category:Fourth Dream Category:Ealdremen Player Characters